Recent nationwide labor protests have found themselves confronted by
extraordinary measures of repression as the country continues to weather
economic struggles, austerity measures and rising inflation.

The
Egyptian government has deployed security forces to quash any suggestion
of labor action in the public or private sector, arresting workers and
subsequently imposing exceptional legal measures to punish those
detained.

Since 2016, the state has increasingly moved toward suppressing labor protests. According to an annual report published
by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), there
were 726 labor protests over workplace demands, claims of administrative
mismanagement and corruption in 2016. These protests have particularly
been driven by grievances over working conditions and demands for
increased wages and bonuses in light of recent economic reform policies.

However, the ECESR report also noted that 2016 saw a decline in the total number of labor protests compared to 2015, in which there were 933 labor protests. In 2014, there were 1,609 labor protests, while, in 2013, there were 2,239.

The state’s crackdown has prompted solidarity campaigns and petitions — in Egypt and abroad —
demanding that the criminal charges against dozens of workers be
dropped. Addressed to executive authorities, the petitions have been signed by hundreds of rights workers, labor unions and federations, denouncing the deployment of security forces to suppress protesting workers.

According to a report
issued by the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS),
security forces have forcibly dispersed seven labor protests over the
past year, while 28 workers have been prosecuted and nine others are
standing trial. The report adds that corporations have also dismissed
271 workers, union members and labor leaders due to their involvement in
labor action.

The state’s initial response to a potential problem in the cog of military production — the Alexandria Shipyard Company has been managed by the Defense Ministry since 2007 —
was particularly extreme, Awwad says, as the workers had not forced a
work stoppage but had organized a sit-in on May 23 and 24, 2016. They
were demanding an increase in salary to align with the national minimum
wage, payment of overdue bonuses and for work at stalled production
lines to recommence.

Military police forces were deployed to the
shipyard on May 24, where they surrounded the workers’ sit-in.

Of
the Alexandria Shipyard Company’s 2,300 workers, some 1,200 have still
not been allowed to recommence work with the company since its
management imposed a lockout on May 24
and therefore cannot collect their full salary. Awwad says that 32
workers, including the 26 standing trial, remain barred from entering
the company’s premises. The state has also moved to force 19 of the
workers standing trial to tender their resignations in exchange for
bail.

“There is increasing pressure from military officials upon the remaining workers to submit their resignations,” says Awwad.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT AUTHORITY WORKERS

Another
significant case centers on the ongoing trial of six Public Transport
Authority (PTA) workers who had planned to strike on September 24, the
first day of the academic year, but were arrested in dawn raids.

The
public bus drivers had prepared to strike to demand increased bonuses
and for the PTA to be placed under the authority of the Transportation
Ministry.

The six PTA workers were jailed and are being prosecuted
on charges of inciting unrest within a state institution, instigating
protests against the state, obstructing public transport, forming a
terrorist cell within the PTA and belonging to an outlawed organization,
a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.
After being detained for
over three months, four of the six workers were released on bail, while
two remain jailed in Tora Prison pending investigations.

“My
father was arrested at home,” says Seif, the son of jailed PTA worker
Abdel Khaleq. “They came for him even though the strike never took
place. There wasn’t even a protest. Why is my father in prison when
strikes are a legitimate and legally stipulated right?”

IFFCO OILS COMPANY

The
latest crackdown took place in the Suez Governorate on January 2, when
police forcefully dispersed a sit-in at the privately owned IFFCO Oils Company, a subsidiary of the Dubai-based IFFCO Group, arresting scores of workers, 21 of whom are now standing trial for “instigating a strike,” while two remain jailed pending investigations.

Security forces were deployed in response to a complaint filed at the local police station
in which the company’s management accused the workers of striking and
obstructing production, a charge which is increasingly being leveled
against workers who embark on industrial action.

Seoud Omar,
a Suez-based trade unionist and regional labor organizer, says these
kinds of industrial action are staged over “‘bread and butter”’ issues
and are typically apolitical in nature. “Labor strikes are not criminal
actions,” he asserts. “There is no terrorism, political conspiracy, or
plots against the ruling regime in these non-violent labor protests.”

While
Omar has seen violence used to suppress labor movements in the past,
the recent developments add a new dimension. “The use of violence on the
part of Ministry of Interior is not new,” he says. “But the increased
use of its police forces in so many different locations is.”

Omar
argues that “police are clearly acting on behalf of business interests
and against workers’ basic rights,” a fact, he argues, is clearly
illustrated in the raid of the IFFCO Oils Company.

Ahmed Bakr, the
secretary general of the Independent Union of IFFCO Employees, says
that since January 2, 27 workers have been barred from entering the
company, of which 21 are standing trial, including all nine elected
members of the company’s trade union committee. Bakr himself is among
those facing prosecution.

The initial court hearing before the Suez Criminal Court is scheduled for January 29,
which is the same day that the court is expected to issue a verdict in
the case. Bakr calls this unprecedented, asking why he and his
co-workers are not being granted an opportunity to defend themselves in
court. “It appears that the authorities are sending a message that they
won’t tolerate strikes or any labor union organization in the Suez
area.”

According to Bakr, the crackdown was not limited to the 12
workers arrested at the factory, as security forces arrested three
others in dawn raids. He adds that several of his co-workers were
interrogated by National Security Agency representatives.

“Are
protests over bonuses now a threat to national security?” he asks. “We
were arrested and are now on trial like criminals because we exercised
our legally protected rights.”

EGYPTIAN FERTILIZERS COMPANY

Another notable security crackdown took place on December 5, when police raided the Egyptian Fertilizers Company (EFC) and Egyptian Basic Industries Corporation (EBIC), both of which are owned by business magnate Nassif Sawiris — Egypt’s richest man, worth an estimated $US6.1 billion.

Workers at both of Sawiris’ fertilizer companies were striking to demand higher wages in light of the flotation and devaluation of the Egyptian pound.
The coordinated police raids resulted in the arrests of around 200
striking workers, who were released within hours. Two other EFC workers
were taken to Attaqa Police Station and released the following day after
paying LE 10,000 bail each. A total of six EFC workers — all of whom
have been sacked in light of this strike — will appear before the Suez
Criminal Court on January 28 on charges of “instigating a strike” and “halting production.”

Following
the forced dispersal of these strikes, a half-page notice was published
in the December 25 issue of the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper under
the headline, “Message of thanks and appreciation from workers at EFC.”
The notice asserted that, “all workers at the Egyptian Fertilizers
Company express their utmost sorrow and pain regarding recent
incidents,” a reference to the strike. “Workers consider themselves to
be strategic partners with the owners of capital.”

Yasser
al-Geneidy, who was arrested in the raid, points out that he wrote this
apology together with a co-worker, under pressure from company
administrators. “We were told to formulate this apology as a
precondition to being reinstated,” he says.

A management official is said to have paid for this ad, which cost around LE133,000.
“Many workers objected to the wording of the statement, but we did so
in hopes of keeping our jobs,” according to Geneidy. “We have apologized
but have not been reinstated, and now we are standing trial.”

Geneidy concludes, “Nassif [Sawiris] is much bigger and stronger than us. What can you do with a billionaire who is actually helping to fund the state? Who do you think they are going to side with?”

Omar
predicts that rising inflation rates and stagnating wages, coupled with
the state’s austerity measures and crackdown on workers’ protests, will
result in significant labor unrest across Egypt.

“Take it from
me,” Omar says. “After all these years in the labor movement, I can
safely tell you that there will be a massive wave of worker protests
affecting the country soon.”
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*Seoud Omar passed away just a few days after Mada Masr conducted this interview with him.